As the United States tightens its grip on Colombia, officials in Bogota try a new approach narco-diplomacy.

Transcription

1 FOREIGN AFFAIRS As the United States tightens its grip on Colombia, officials in Bogota try a new approach narco-diplomacy. AN UNUSUALLY public fight has broken out between the world's largest cocaine consumer and the world's largest cocaine exporter. Congress and the Clinton administration have grown impatient with Colombia's efforts in the drug war, which they believe to be not only insufficient but possibly compromised. Colombian officials say they are doing all they can, but that the United States is not doing enough to reduce the demand for drugs. Officials on each side are trying to cooperate in the fight against cocaine traffickers, but the bitterness is palpable. Prospects were sunnier last December 2, after Colombian police finally located fugitive drug lord Pablo Escobar and shot him dead. Though Escobar had eluded would-be captors for 16 inonths, his Achilles heel was concern for his family. Colombian authorities offered to find asylum for Escobar's wife and daughter, got them on a plane to Germany, and tracked the drug lord's communications with them after Germany turned the pair away. Traced phone calls led police to his hideout in Medellin. As they closed in on the house, Escobar fled to the rooftop, where he was taken out in his slippers. Given his role in the wave of terrorism Colombia suffered in the late 1980s, Escobar's death created some sense of relief, if not rejoicing, in both countries. But by the time Escobar met his end, the drug war already looked stalled in Colombia. Indeed, from the U.S. perspective, the flow of good news from the front lines in Colombia seemed to dry up as Escobar's Medellin cartel dwindled. Cocaine exports remain at high levels, and a new phenomenon, traffic in Colombian-produced heroin, is on the rise. Europe has joined the United States as a major consumer of Colombian drugs, and, to top it off, this year the country edged out Bolivia to become the second-leading grower of the coca plant, the raw material for processed cocaine. A network of traffickers based largely in the city of Cali is believed to have masterminded this surge in all aspects of narco-trafficking. And while the Medellin cartel terrorized government and society alike, the Cali group relies mainly on bribes, not bullets, to ensure that its will is done. "The Cali traffickers are a lot smarter," says Carlos Cavelier, a former congressman and minister of justice. "They don't punch you in the eye, they pick your pocket. But 1 / 5

2 they're much more powerful, and much worse." As Cavelier suggests, the Cali group's soft touch actually worsens Colombia's lot. For while the government is no longer besieged by frontal assaults, the corruption spreading through Colombian society tarnishes every citizen and business and makes public officials look weak. Current President Ernesto Samper [sarn-pare' has said, "Corruption in institutions is more damaging than a bomb planted by Pablo Escobar." So how extensive is corruption in Colombia? Just a few examples are suggestive. In 1989, over 3,500 policemen were dismissed for cause, usually for taking bribes. In late 1993, four bodyguards for the nation's top prosecutor were fired for links to traffickers. Humberto de la Calle, Colombia's current vice president, recently described his own suspicions. "I believe there is some flow of money from narco-traffickers to the congressional level," De la Calle told the Washington Post this summer. "I would not say there are congressmen who are spokesmen for drug dealers, but I would say there are congressmen who listen to drug dealers." A result of corruption is this: Every Colombian, in or out of government, is viewed with suspicion. U.S. officials seem to be constantly asking: Whose side are you on? And if you're not toeing the drug war line, you must be working for the other side. FRUSTRATION within the U.S. anti-drug bureaucracy was evident when Escobar was killed last December. Acting Drug Enforcement Administration chief Stephen Greene said at the time that the Cali traffickers were next, since now "the full resources of the Colombian government and the United States government can be devoted to their apprehension." Robert Bonner, who had recently retired as head of the DEA, said much the same thing. But Bonner sounded as if urging a strategic shift toward Cali was something that drug-fighting agents were already tiring of doing. They probably were. Even the State Department, whose annual report on the drug situation is often cast in the reserved language of diplomacy, questioned the government's commitment to fighting Cali in Invoking the government's vigorous battle against the Medellin cartel, the 1991 report noted: "To date, [Colombian] security forces have not dedicated the same amount of resources against the Cali cartel. [Officials] claim that a total drug war on both cartels at once would not be manageable." At least some skepticism was implied. 2 / 5

3 These reactions suggest a mounting fear in the United States that the Cali-based traffickers cannot be defeated. Whether it is because they are too powerful or too connected, or because the government is either too corrupt or too weak, the Cali traffickers might survive. And almost the only thing the United States can do is use carrot-and-stick methods to urge the government to be more aggressive. There is no doubt that the Cali traffickers are brutal black-market businessmen who are damaging Colombian society. And Colombians have already suffered more than most from the side effects of drug prohibition, so they don't need much instruction on the dangers posed by traffickers. But still, there's no guarantee that this nation of 36 million, stinging from criticism and exhausted from years of war, will continue to follow the U.S. lead on how to attack the Cali group. To American leaders, there is only one option to fight, keep fighting, and, if that doesn't work, fight some more. After all, the anti-drug mentality of many U.S. leaders was forged amid much patriotic bluster. In the 1980s, Congress declared, "For the future of our country and the lives of our children, there can be no substitute for total victory." Hyperbole, yes, but a clear statement of the U.S. bottom line. Washington's skepticism of Colombia's will to fight dates back to By early that year, the three Ochoa brothers, each reputed Medellin leaders, had surrendered to authorities. The surrender terms for each varied, but at the time the maximum penalty in Colombia for drug trafficking was 12 years in prison. 3 / 5

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